Understanding the specificity and regulation of NCK adaptor proteins

组成我们身体组织的细胞之间的交流是必不可少的。它不仅需要确保我们身体的所有部位从受孕开始就能正常发育，而且还需要确保它们在我们的一生中都能准确地发挥作用。细胞发送、接收或正确理解来自环境或其他细胞的信号失败可能会导致整个生物体出现问题。负责这些任务的细胞参与者被称为蛋白质。大多数（如果不是全部的话）蛋白质不是单独起作用，而是成对、小群（复合体）或大群（网络）起作用。我们对一组叫做适配器的蛋白质特别感兴趣，它的功能是将不同的蛋白质相互连接起来，以帮助细胞整合来自外部的信号。我们的工作旨在确定哪些蛋白质将与接头结合形成复合物和网络。此外，我们将研究支配这一过程的规则是什么，因为我们知道它不是随机的。特别是，我们将研究名为NCK1和NCK2的蛋白质，它们的功能有时是多余的，有时是更具体的。为了实现这些目标，我们将结合使用蛋白质分离和定量工具，以及细胞成像。我们断言，我们的工作将为细胞通信和生命所必需的蛋白质网络提供独特的见解。

Communication between cells that make-up tissues in our body is essential. It is required not only to ensure that all parts of our body will develop properly from conception, but also that they will function accurately during our lifetime. Failure for cells to send, to receive or to correctly understand signals to/from their environment or other cells may lead to problems for the whole organism. The cellular actors responsible for such tasks are called proteins. Most, if not all proteins do not act individually but rather function as pairs, small groups (complexes) or larger groups (networks). We are particularly interested with a group of proteins, called adaptors, whose function is to bridge different proteins with one another in order to help a cell integrating signals from outside. Our work seeks to identify which proteins will associate with adaptors to form complexes and networks. Moreover, we will investigate what are the rules that govern this process, as we know that it is not random. In particular, we will examine proteins named NCK1 and NCK2, whose functions are sometimes redundant, sometimes more specific. To achieve these goals, we will use a combination of protein separation and quantification tools, as well as cellular imaging. We assert that our work will provide unique insights into protein networks that are essential for cellular communication and life.